Minecraft for noobs - a YouTube video tutorial

My 9 year old daughter has been playing Minecraft the past few weeks and has been practically begging me to try it out.  She is a very creative child, so Minecraft is right up her alley.  Minecraft is basically an electronic set of legos, set in a blocky 8-bit looking world where you can build anything imaginable.

So I agreed to try Minecraft, but I told her I wanted to make Youtube videos at the same time.  So we are recording our games using Fraps, while recording her, the experienced player, show the noob (me) how to play.  We're having a lot of fun making the videos together, whether they get many views or not.

I'll post all the videos here as we make them, hope you enjoy!

Microsoft Flight - new free flight simulator. Let's play!

Microsoft Flight is a free to play flight simulator available for download on Steam. Hard-core. Flight Simulator fans will be dissapointed. This version is an easy to pick up and play, Arcade feeling game. As soon as you fire the game up for the first time you are flying, with a pleasant sounding female instructor giving you instructions as you go. Within just a few minutes the game has taught you how to turn, climb, descend, adjust throttle, lower the landing gear, and make a rudimentary landing. One of the best openings to a game I've ever seen.

One of the knocks on Microsoft Flight is the fact that you are limited to flying on and around the main island of Hawaii. The island is done extremely well with great attention to detail and breathtaking graphics. I'm OK with this business model - a free point of entry with small incremental payments for downloadable content (DLC). There is already a Hawaiian Adventure expansion available, and an Alaska expansion is coming out this spring. These packs come with scenery, missions, and planes.

I'll be posting a series of HD "Let's Play" videos in this thread and on my YouTube channel. Hope you enjoy!

Kevin Mitnick biography book review - Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker

Free Kevin bumper sticker, popular when Kevin Mitnick
was locked up on hacking charges in the mid to late 90's.

The Kevin Mitnick book - Ghost in the Wires is a very interesting book that will certainly appeal to it's target audience - computer nerds who grew up in the 80's and 90's.  Kevin Mitnick goes into great detail about his attempts to exploit a plethora of computer systems, telephone systems, and people, using technical, but most importantly - social engineering.  This was a very interesting read for me, as I remember hearing a little about Kevin Mitnick back in the day, and clearly remember the 'Free Kevin' signs and stickers after Mitnick was locked up.  The rest of this article is purely my personal opinion and editorial in nature.  My final word on this book - buy it.  Having said that...

Kevin Mitnick uses the term "social engineering" over and over in Ghost in the Wires.  Social Engineer is a fancy term to use in place of the word liar.  A day after I read the book, I thought back about what the theme of the book was actually about.  This is basically a book chock full of Kevin Mitnick lying to everyone he comes in contact with.

Make no mistake - Mitnick is not the "Robin Hood" hacker.  His hacks were purely selfish in nature.  His pathological lying and hacking seemed to be based on his hyper-competitive ego.  He didn't seem to hack for monetary gain at all.  Throughout the book he seemed hell-bent on proving to the world that he could get into any system, that he was smarter than you, and he would win at all costs.

Obviously Mitnick is an extraordinarily smart guy with mad computer skills. I always thought his computer skills were what made him such a good hacker.  Not true.  His ability to gain the trust of complete strangers over and over, then use them without the slightest sign of having a conscience was his biggest asset.  Whether on the phone or in person, he boldly assumed whatever role he needed to get the information he wanted.

In the book he was apprehended by the authorities 3 times.  I found it very odd that Mitnick, smart enough to break into basically any computer system in the world, was not smart enough to evade the cops.  Why did he keep getting caught?

One theory I have is that his belief that he was smarter than everyone else was his downfall.  He always seemed to assume the other guys were dumber, slower and less observant than they really were.  The other theory that I have is that subconsciously Mitnick wanted to be caught, wanted to be famous and publicly ordained as the best hacker in the world.  Look no further than the title of the book - ....'My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker'.  Did he need the attention and recognition or was he just careless?  He never said.

Mitnick several times makes himself out to be the victim when his 'friends' rolled over on him, turning state's witness.  I found it interesting that the guy that lied to 99% of the people he came in contact with would have the balls to question the integrity of one of his fellow criminals.  I found myself pulling for Mitnick while reading the book, but later on I thought 'why was I pulling for that lying scumbag?'.  I guess he socially engineered me too.

Again, buy the book.